Many times over the last decade Donald TrumpPublic speaking reminded me of the old ones TV advertising for the electronics network Crazy Eddie, which I watched as a child in suburban New Jersey – erratic delivery, breathless advertising, memorable absurdist slogans. (“His prices are INCREDIBLE!”) But somehow that was never more true than Wednesday night, when the president addressed the nation from the White House Diplomatic Reception Room, surrounded by the soft glow of two Christmas trees and a portrait of George Washington.
The comparison, to be honest, is not entirely correct. Crazy Eddie's legendary salesman, Jerry Carroll, actually dressed up as Santa Claus for the chain's famous holiday commercial, which Crazy Eddie apparently had to pay for. Trump, on the other hand, received free airtime on all of America's major television networks for his Christmas ad, which ran as an eighteen-minute, thirty-three-second extra. That's a lot of words to string together without much point or common sense, although by now we all know that there is only one form of punctuation that Trump has actually embraced: the exclamation mark. “I’m bringing these high prices down and bringing them down fast!” he said Wednesday evening. “God, we’re making progress!” “Nothing like this has ever happened before!”
The centerpiece of the president's speech was his announcement of an unconditional deal under which 1.4 million U.S. military personnel would receive year-end bonus checks of $1,776 each in honor of next year's celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. “And the checks,” he said, “are on their way!” Santa Trump promised even more financial gifts in the New Year: a great new housing policy, a great new health care plan. As the President said, “You people will get excellent health care at a lower cost!” I, for one, can't wait because I recently received a check from our insurance company for three dollars and eighty-six cents for my son's annual checkup, which costs over a thousand dollars.
If only Trump actually sold electronics at a discount. Suffice it to say that there has never been an example of Crazy Eddie trying to sell new color televisions by claiming that Somali immigrants stole the old ones. When the website Defense One reported overnight that money for Trump's so-called warrior dividend was diverted from the $2.9 billion military housing benefit fund created by Congress, it was not so much surprising as it was predictable. Santa needs to get money from somewhere for all these gifts, right?
But as an advertisement for Trump's year-end accomplishments, there was an air of desperation in the speech. Could it be that the presidential huckster, whose approval rating has fallen into the thirties, secretly knows that America doesn't buy what he sells? Why else was he talking so fast? Hours before the speech, even a few Republicans on Capitol Hill began rioting, demanding a vote on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies that were about to expire, causing health care prices to skyrocket for millions of people. Trump made no mention of this in his address, instead blaming the impending price hike on Democrats, even though they have been fighting Trump over the past few months to stop it. It seems like this level of gaslighting can take a lot out of a man. According to the White House pool report, when his speech ended, Trump addressed the press and said, “You think this is easy?” then took a sip of Diet Coke. The sense that he was simply doing his job was only heightened by what came next: “Susie told me I had to give an address to the nation,” he said, or something close to it, according to the pool report.
Susie, of course, is Susie Wiles, Trump's chief of staff, and part of the point of Trump's comment was undoubtedly to remind reporters that she is still calling the shots in his White House. Wiles, known for her modesty, faced a rare bout of bad publicity this week when her scathing comments about the president and much of his inner circle to author Chris Whipple in eleven taped interviews over the past year were published in Vanity Fair.
Among the highlights: Wiles said Trump, like her father, the late football commentator Pat Summerall, “has the temperament of an alcoholic,” that V.P. JD Vance was a “conspiracy theorist for ten years” and that Elon Musk was a “weird, odd duck” microdosing on drugs. She also showed herself to be doubtful when it came to many of the most famous outrages associated with Trump's return to power, questioning everything Musk said. destruction The U.S. Agency for International Development – “no reasonable person” could support the way it was handled, she told Whipple – to a presidential pardon for violent acts. rioters supporting Trump who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
